Colorado’s “degreed” naturopaths (NDs) are nothing if not persistent. Starting in 1994 they have tried seven times to convince legislators that the Colorado’s public needs protection from what “traditional” naturopaths (traditionals) do, and that the best way of providing that protection, they claim, is to bestow licensure on the guys with the college degrees. The irony in this is that the NDs could well be the more dangerous practitioners.

Legislators have been largely sympathetic to the concerns of the more numerous traditionals who fear the loss of their right to work as naturopaths. The NDs have tried neutralize these opponents by reassuring them they could continue to practice naturopathy, but the traditionals don’t buy that. And they won’t easily forfeit the title of “naturopath” to which they believe to have more claim.

So what we have here in Colorado is near 20-year turf war between two types of naturopaths: the NDs who seek legislation to transform naturopathy into a protected guild, and the traditionals who are happy with the status quo. There is no love lost between these groups. Legislators repeatedly advise them to resolve their differences before asking for licensure again, but they haven’t gotten close to détente.

Colorado NDs have made no secret of their economic motivations. Before the 2011 legislative session, the Colorado Association of Naturopathic Doctors (CAND) was reinvigorated by the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which has this “non-discrimination” provision:

(a) Providers- A group health plan and a health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage shall not discriminate with respect to participation under the plan or coverage against any health care provider who is acting within the scope of that provider’s license or certification under applicable State law. This section shall not require that a group health plan or health insurance issuer contract with any health care provider willing to abide by the terms and conditions for participation established by the plan or issuer. Nothing in this section shall be construed as preventing a group health plan, a health insurance issuer, or the Secretary from establishing varying reimbursement rates based on quality or performance measures. [Sec. 2706]